


Time is what we need but don't have

by Achlyz



Series: Dysfunctional Family [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, Ben is here but not alive, Family Fluff, Gen, Kidnapping, No Incest, No Sparrow Academy, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Number Five | The Boy and Luther Hargreeves are Twins, Protective Allison Hargreeves, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Protective Klaus Hargreeves, Protective Luther Hargreeves, Protective Siblings, Sibling Love, Sick Number Five | The Boy, Soft Diego Hargreeves, Takes place after season 2 where there is no sparrow academy, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26324785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achlyz/pseuds/Achlyz
Summary: After everything that happened to them in the past, they all vow to be a better sibling to one another. To finally be a complete happy and normal family, well as normal as they can get given their dynamics, history and experiences.But it seems like destiny is still not yet done with testing their strength as a whole family, given that even after settling down the bad blood between the Hargreeves and the commission, new enemies showed up out of the blue.And as always, Five can not catch a break.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Allison Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Ben Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Luther Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: Dysfunctional Family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921819
Comments: 26
Kudos: 347





	1. Chapter 1

**A/N: My very first fic in this fandom yey! This fic sets after the season 2 where Sparrow academy didn’t exist lol.**

**~o~oOo~o~**

“laus... Klaus! Open your eyes or I swear to god I would burn everything you own the moment we get home. Klaus!”

The moment that Klaus’s eyes opened, he knew they are,in what you would call, _deep shit_. His memory as of the moment is hazy; the last thing he remembered was that all of them, minus Five, were having a nice quite dinner at the academy.

Ever since they came back from the 1960’s, they are all trying to be a one whole somewhat happy family again. It’s hard of course nothing is easy when you are a Hargreeves, all of them are basically shit at communicating with one another but everyday they are trying. Vanya and Diego moved back into the academy, Allison rarely left the academy (she only does when it is time to visit her daughter), Luther, Klaus and Five have nowhere to go besides the academy. In a way, what happened to them back in the 1960’s made them all realize that all they have are one another, even Five is making a huge effort not to be too condescending to all of them which in a way is both funny and scary to watch as they are all somehow used to his attitude to basically all of them.

Back in the current predicament that all of them are facing, Klaus looked around him. He immediately saw his siblings unconscious and all of them are chained both arms behind them, Allison is the only one with a gag in her mouth for some reason. Coincidently, all of them are lined up in their ‘number order’. But as Klaus glanced to his left his eyes went wide in realization that Five wasn’t with them.

Generally that thought would put Klaus at ease, because he knows that whoever kidnapped them just fucked up **_real bad_** if they didn’t manage to get Five, because honestly speaking Five could get them all out of here even without breaking a sweat. Most probably he would do it all the while complaining and calling them a bunch of idiots but still would do it in a heartbeat.

That would be ideal but months after travelling back to 2019, it seems like Five’s body is starting to complain about his ‘healthy lifestyle’. Because even though Five insist that he is a 58 year old man in his cute uniform and a high-knee socks, his body is 13 years old in age. And an ordinary 13 years old body is generally susceptible to all kinds of virus the world has to offer.

So three days ago, Five came down with a very nasty flu that sent all of his sibling into a panic frenzy on what to do with him. Out of all of them, Five and Ben rarely got sick even though they are around sick people. It’s a good thing that Allison is no stranger to little kids getting the common flu because she is a mother herself. At first Five is hesitant into accepting their help, not wanting them to see him in an ‘unruly’ state as he called it. But in the end Five gave up all the complaints he had, and he even said in his flu induced of state mind that it was nice not having to do things alone, Diego right then and there swore that he would keep a closer eye to Five every single time that he would show signs that he was sick. Taking care of Five is a good sibling bonding, even Luther and Diego minimized their fighting whenever Five was in the vicinity so that they would not disturb him in his sleep.

Finally after gathering some of his thoughts, Klaus turned his attention to Ben who is kneeling in front him, it’s the first time Klaus saw Ben in such a worried state “Klaus are you okay?”

“Just peachy Benny boy... say you do know what happened to us right or did we just all had suddenly Five’s powers to teleport into this...” Klaus once again glanced at his surrounding “ Kinda creepy warehouse, I mean not that I don’t mind being chained up but seriously this kind of setting for a kidnapping is very cliché don’t you agree Ben? Why can’t they bring us to a nice 5 star hotel for once? Or even the seaside with a nice view over the horizon?”

Ben looked at him, clearly done with whatever Klaus is sprouting “Given that your line of thoughts are how cliché this is, clearly says that you are okay.” Ben stood up and for a moment Klaus thought Ben would leave, but clearly it wasn’t the case “We are all having dinner when suddenly someone threw a smoke grenade, I think that grenade contained some kind of sedation strong enough that even Luther got under the influence of it.” Ben looked at Klaus once again “Five wasn’t in the dining room because he is still sick Klaus, when you passed out I immediately turned back into being a spirit. I wasn’t sure if they also got Five.”

“Oh shit, Diego is seriously going to kill everybody here if they even touch Five in his current state. Well time to wake them up don’t you think so Ben?” Klaus then nudge Allison repeatedly until she groans. “Allison my favourite sister! Sorry to wake you up in such a rude manner, but could you go and wake Diego up?”

Allison blinked, suddenly aware of her surrounding her eyes went wide in panic when she realized that she can’t talk, after assessing her surroundings, Allison finally looked at her still unconscious brothers before kicking Diego as hard as she can hoping that would wake him up.

Diego’s eyes suddenly opened in alert that if they weren’t in this situation, Allison and Klaus would find in funny. “What the fuck...?” Diego muttered, he looked at his surroundings before rattling the chains that bounds his hands behind him, Diego looked at his body and groaned at the obvious lack of knives in his body “Oh come on I just sharpened those!”

Allison once again kicked him Diego looked at her irritation cleared in his expression but Allison just rolled her eyes and silently gestured at Luther. And like what Allison did, Diego kicked Luther with much force than necessary if they are being honest.

“Luther! Can you break the chains?” Diego hissed at his brother who is still shaking the effects of the sedation out of his body.

“Uh wait hold on...” Luther said focusing all his strength in his arms, the chains surrounding his arms broke of easily like uncooked pasta, that Diego grinned at Luther. Luther spotted Diego’s knives in the far corner “Do you want your knives back first or do you prefer me to break those chains first?”

“Just get my knives first, at least then we would have a weapon. We still don’t know who is stupid enough to disturb our dinner. But clearly it wasn’t from the commission, because if it is, then we would have a harder time getting these chains destroyed.”

Luther seems to contemplate what Diego said before wordlessly walking towards Diego’s knives. Luther was able to collect all of it, before returning to his spot. Before he could even break Diego’s chain Ben suddenly is corporeal in front of them

“Someone is coming in here!” Ben hissed “They have Five and several guns in them, I check there are at least 10 men and all of them are armed with guns. I know them, they are... Klaus’s friends from a long time ago. So I suggest that before we all do something rush we should stay low just until we can make sure Five is safe okay? We can’t risk Five’s safety just yet.” Ben made a gesture that Luther should go back to his original position as to not alert their captors of their freeway “Don’t worry if it all comes down to it, I would kill everybody here.” Ben said looked at all of them before disappearing once again in thin air.

It’s still feels weird on how casually Ben had said that, they are still getting used to the fact that the innocent Ben they once knew was no longer there, but they are not complaining either way because deep down he is still the same Ben they all loved and missed.

“Shit, once I break out of these goddamn chains I would put every single knife I have into all their throats if Five’s condition worsens because of them.” Diego muttered darkly, glaring at the warehouse’s door.

Allison nudged Klaus, her eyes expressing the unanswered question she wanted to know, Klaus shrugged before answering “I don’t know Allison! I had a loooots of friends you know? It’s kind of my thing, but I swear I had no contact with any of them for years now! Maybe they just want to get revenged on me or something? I didn’t even know that they would drag all of us in my own mess! Even little Vanya!”

“Is she okay? Can you check on her Klaus?” Luther asked, making sure that he still looked like he was chained up like what Ben had told them to do.

Klaus glanced at her still unconscious sister “Oh yeah yeah, she is still sleeping and I vote for not waking her up just yet. If Ben said was true then Vanya is safer asleep than conscious.”

Suddenly the warehouse’s door creaked loudly as it opened, revealing 5 men one of them carrying an unconscious Five in his arms. It looks like Ben was right after all, all of them looks pretty harmless minus the guns, and honestly Diego could kill them all in his sleep but not when they have Five in his most vulnerable state. As Ben had said, they can’t risk Five’s safety, especially in his state that he couldn’t even lift a finger or even use his powers to defend himself. The bastards got _very lucky_ into picking a day to kidnap them all. If they even manage to execute their plans when Five is in top shape, they wouldn’t even leave the academy alive. But alas, _they got extremely lucky_.

“Put the kid down into the couch.” The ‘leader’ ordered before turning his attention to all of them “I was hoping that we would get a lot more time with all of you unconscious, we were told that the sedation we used for all of you was the strongest they have but it wasn’t the case since it’s just been 30 minutes.” He looked at Klaus smiling sarcastically “Long time no see Klaus, I see that you have changed big time.”

Klaus just shrugged, in a way that clearly states that he doesn’t care at all “Well time travel does that to you, it was a wild ride but meh, literally though new year new me? Would you believe me if I say I miss you Henry?” If Diego wasn’t chained up, he would have face palmed at the interaction that he was watching.

Henry, as Klaus called him, sneered “I forgot how much of a shit you are, you are so much fun to be with if you are high as a motherfucking kite.”

Klaus laughed “Oh believe me how I miss being that high but you know what the diet I’ve been on that doesn’t include drugs isn’t that bad.”

“Klaus stop provoking him, you know how he is back then. Just ask him what he wants.” Ben said taking advantage of him being invisible to be Klaus’s voice of reason 

“Oh yeah right right good thinking Benjamin.” Klaus muttered “So, it’s not like I don’t enjoy this small reunion of ours but why do I owe you this pleasure? I mean it must be big considering you dragged my siblings into this. So what exactly do you want? Money? Drugs? Revenge on me?”

Henry looked unimpressed like he knows that Klaus would act this way “Believe me, I didn’t want to involve unnecessary people into this especially a kid, but unfortunately unlike the old times, I now work for a much bigger drug group. It is why I can now afford guns instead of those cheap ass fuck knives.”

Klaus blew raspberries at him “Yeah good for you for achieving your dreams yehey, but it still doesn’t answer my question you know? And believe me when I say that my brother here Diego, the one with a very nasty but cool sexy looking scar in the side of his head, is not a patient young man especially if you are threatening our baby bro who by the way is sick yet you still bothered to get him out of his bed when he should be sleeping and resting instead.” Klaus glared at Henry, even though his words are carefree his expression is not. Beside Klaus, Allison is also supporting the man with a glare of his own that if any other day that it was directed at Klaus himself he would be scared of her sister.

“You stay Five out of this you fucking asshole, or I swear to god I would gut you like a fucking fish then leave you out in the open to die.” Diego sneered, behind him he is clutching his knife, chains are already starting to loosen because of his continuous movement in an effort to break free. Luther gave Diego a side look, waiting for his signal to fully break the chain so they could deal with all of them if it comes down to it. Luther might not be fully comfortable with the idea of killing people, but if it’s for his brother he would not hesitate. Especially since Five has been through enough shit to deal with a simple kidnapping, they can’t let Five keep on protecting them, and as their older brother (even though technically Five _is_ the older brother) it is Luther and Diego’s duty to keep all of them safe and sound. They failed once with Ben and they would sure as hell wouldn’t fail again, they can’t afford that after all they just got Five back in their lives, they can’t lose him all of the sudden again.

“Five?” Henry looked at the couch at his side, looking down at the kid who is sweating and has a red flustered cheeks clearly still sick and incoherent in his surrounding “You mean this kid’s name is Five? Like the number Five? Huh... and I thought your name is weird enough Klaus. Your family is amazing in terms of being weird.” Henry, out of curiosity, placed his gloved fingers into Five’s cheeks which earned a rather animalistic growl out of Diego and a muffled shout out of Allison

“Don’t fucking touch him!” Luther shouted, his jaw clenching in anger. Maybe he should just ignore Ben’s instruction and just punch the living soul out of this Henry shit’s body. Because honestly it looks like all of them have a death wish or something.

Henry, in his credit, looked like he regretted his action. He immediately removed his fingers before looking alarmingly at Luther. “Chill out man! We might be drug addicts and killers but we ain’t a pedophile to even be interested in your little brother, especially since he looks like 12 in his pajamas. Like I said, I didn’t want to involve unnecessary people in our fray Klaus but Andrei the big guy I’m working for said that we should not have a loose ties or something close to that shit. He ordered us to search for the whole house for possible... threats. It just so happens that we spotted your little brother coming down in the stairs so we decided to bring him with us. As you can see, we didn’t even put him in any restraints because during the drive here, he didn’t even wake up or some shit so we assumed that he is harmless unlike all of the rest of you sibling especially them.” Henry gestured towards Diego and Luther who is still glaring at the man but he could see the worry in their eyes as they glance at Five’s unconscious body.

Klaus almost laughed at that statement, because saying and assuming Five is harmless in any day would be like a death sentence for everyone who dared to disrupt their little family. “Oh buddy believe me, little Fivey is not harmless as you think he is.” This time though Klaus did bark out a laugh at the disbelief expression that Henry is supporting in his face “Little good ol Five is much more dangerous that all of us combined, you should feel lucky because you dumbshits picked a very good day to execute your little plan. Because honestly, if you waited for maybe a week or so, Five would be burying your body right now... or burning them whatever the little gremlin is in the mood of.” Klaus said it so casually that Henry thought he was talking about the weather and not a series of murder intent.

Henry just scoffed, still not believing a single thing that Klaus just said, after all he knows by now that Klaus likes to spew out nonsense shit just to be annoying and irritating “By now Klaus, only a fucking fool would believe in your lying shit ass mouth.” Henry felt his phone vibrate in his pockets, digging it out he saw that Andrei is calling him. He grinned at them gesturing at his phone that is clutched in his hand “Well big boss is now calling me, and I can tell you that best case scenario here is that we take Klaus back with us then all of you can go in your merry way.”

“Over my dead body you would! I would kill all of you if you touch even one of my siblings.”

Henry just ignored what Diego had said, answering his phone not even bothering to leave the premise. “Hey boss... yeah we got them all. Well 5 adults including Klaus the guy I’ve been talking about... and a sick kid, apparently he has a little brother.”

Diego and the others waited patiently for the phone call to end, Allison looked like she was done with this bullshit and just wants to go home and take care of his sick brother. After a while, Henry hung up the phone. Looking grimly at Five which made them all look at him in alarm.

Henry didn’t even bother to spare them a glance. He addresses the other 4 people in the room, “Big boss is already here just parking his car. Make sure the others are prepared, we don’t want to screw this up of else big boss will have my head in a silver platter.”

After ordering them, the four people armed with guns started to walk towards them and before they can be closer to them, Diego immediately hid his knives by sitting on them. Its either the armed man are stupid enough not to notice it or he just hid them well. When the armed guys are finally behind them, they took position, their guns pointed at the back of their head, even though they are 4 of them and 5 of them, the armed guys didn’t bother with Vanya seeing as she is still unconscious.

“Klaus I’m so sorry man...” Henry did look like it, which raises several red flags in their heads “I swear we didn’t want to involve your siblings especially your little brother but... it seems like big boss is ready to forgive and forget you... in exchange for your little brother here.”

They didn’t even had the chance to fully digest Henry’s words when the warehouse’s doors once again loudly opened. A fat man wearing a suit that makes him look like a fucking douchebag appeared with 5 men of course armed with guns trailing behind him. Just by seeing him is enough to make unsettling feelings in their stomach. Finally the Andrei guy stopped in front of them, looking down at them condescendingly that it almost looks like he wants to spit on them.

“Look what we have here...” Andrei looked at them one by one seemingly taking their physical appearance, his eyes stopped at Klaus “I’m just going to assume that you are Klaus, correct me if I am wrong”

“You are not.” Klaus answered tightly

Andrei smiled, as if pleased with himself with the correct assumption that he made “Oh good, you look exactly how they describe you to me.” Once again Andrei’s eyes roamed before stopping to inspect Allison “Holy shit, paint me lucky. You are the famous Allison Hargreeves. I must say I am a fan of your work, I watch it if I want to be bored out of my fucking mind.”

Allison’s glare can melt through steels which made Andrei laugh “Oh lighten up people! I’m not stupid enough to kill someone high profiled.” Andrei straighten his posture, enjoying the death glares he was receiving from all of them. “As I have said to Henry here in the phone, I am now not interested in any of you.”

Andrei turned his attention to Henry “Where are the others?”

“They are surrounding the whole warehouse boss, to make sure no one interferes.”

“Good... that’s good.” Andrei looked at the 4 armed guys whom are behind the Hargreeves “Focus one gun towards the unconscious girl idiots. They might be chained up but the girl is clearly more efficient as a hostage.” At his order one of the armed guy who is behind Diego went towards Vanya instead. When the gun is now pointed at Vanya, Diego hissed “Stay the fuck away from her.”

Andrei laughed, before towering above Diego “Aw we got one protective big brother here.”

At this point Diego is seething with unreleased anger “Fuck you, if I got out of this chain make your peace with god you fucker.”

“And how will you do that exactly? There are 6 of you here and over 20 of us.”

“7 actually” Klaus piped, which made Andrei look at him “And that 7th person is not going to be happy if you continue to threaten us, especially his favourite bro which by the way is unofficially me. So I highly suggest letting us all go before this warehouse turns into your graveyard.”

Andrei laughed so hard that his voice echoed loudly enough to make them all cover their ears. And apparently enough to wake up Five from his flu state induced sleep.

“...hng... what...”

Henry looked at Five who is struggling to open his eyes, but once he did he rolled out of the couch causing him to fall into the hard floor lying in his stomach. It seems like he has a hard time grasping into consciousness. After a few second, Five was able to have enough energy to lift his head up the floor to look straight into all of his sibling who are looking at him worriedly.

“Ah... Fuck... another kidnapping.” Five took a deep breath, trying to push the dizziness and the pain he was feeling out of his system because clearly his siblings once again need his help. “I could not catch a fucking break can I?” By now Five is using his little energy to at least sit on the floor instead of lying in it. He was able to sit but he uses the couch to lean his body into it. He turned his head to the side where he could see his siblings and a fat man who Five would just assume is the bad guy.

Andrei slowly walked up to Five, kneeling in front of him. He didn’t even seem afraid of the glare that Five is giving him, Andrei could not take him seriously especially after the act he just pulled. He knows that this little boy is at his mercy and he would take advantage of it “Hello there, I know that all of you are siblings but... you really take the cake.” Andrei slowly licked his lips bringing one of his hands to cup Five’s face “You are such a pretty little boy.”

Five’s whole body tenses as he slapped the offending hands away from him “Don’t fucking touch me you pea sized brain asshole.”

Andrei looked a little surprise at the attitude that Five displayed before he sneered, he once again raised his hand but this time he wrapped it forcefully around Five’s neck surprising everybody.

“Get away from him!”

“Don’t fucking hurt him!”

“Five!”

Five can hear his sibling but he is already having a hard time breathing due to him being sick but being strangled leaves him a little more breathless than normal. Five could feel tears starting to form as he weakly tries to claw off the offending hands that still continues to squeeze around his throat.

“You are a pretty little boy but you have a shit attitude, but don’t worry we could fix that. I could tell that you are probably a fucking spoiled brat you know being the youngest must have its perks.” Finally Andrei let go of Five as Five immediately slumped back coughing and wheezing as he tries to regain composure. Andrei grab Five’s chin to make direct eye contact with him “You do that again and I’ll make sure that your sister’s brain would be decorating the floor. You don’t want that do you?”

Five’s eyes went wide in alarm as he glance at the armed guys behind his siblings, he could risk his own safety but not his siblings, never his siblings. Five painfully nodded grimacing at the delighted and excited expression that Andrei showed. By now Five knows that this person if one of those sick fuck people who preys on the younger population. Younger population that Five is unfortunately physically a part of.

“Fucking asshole! Your problem is with me not with Five!” Klaus shouted and it’s one of those rare instances where he saw his carefree brother truly seething with anger.

Andrei let go of Five’s chin, he looked back at Klaus disgust evident in his eyes “I don’t care for the likes of you.” He casually said, once again his attention went to Five, his hands slowly creeping into Five’s body, Five involuntary let out a shiver as he bites his lips to not let a single sound out of his lips. He wanted to slap the hands touching him but he can’t do it again. Not when Vanya can die, he can handle a few touches but he wouldn’t be able to handle one of his siblings dying. “But your brother here... I’m sure unlike you he is fresh right? A kid like this would surely be like a hitting the jackpot. I have never tried it with a kid this young but I’m sure as fucking hell he would be tight as fuck. I would enjoy destroying whatever dignity you have pretty boy.” Andrei went closer to Five, immediately biting into Five’s top ear which causes him to jolt in pain and whimpered as Andrei forcefully ripped his pajamas’s top in half before feeling warm unwelcomed hands into his body.

“No... no no no” Five whimpered as he closes his eyes to block it out and everything happened so fast that Five is thankful for it.

One moment Andrei was violating him and the next thing he feels is the weight is now away from him. When Five had the energy to open his eyes, he saw in front of him that Andrei has 4 of Diego’s knives sticking out of his neck, causing the sicko to fall sideways dead. Five forced himself to turn his gaze away from the man as he hears Ben’s Eldritch ripping every armed guys in half inside of the room causing it to splatter and rain blood all over the floor. Five grinned knowing that, Ben must have been really livid for him to tear them all to pieces without so much of a glance. Not that his siblings are much better now that Five can clearly see everyone of his siblings are infuriated and itching to at least kill of the guys but Ben is already done with all of them under a minute.

“Five? Are you okay buddy?” Diego is the first one in front of him, he is kneeling in front of Five clearly looking for any sign of injury. When he saw none, Diego sighed in clear relieve that Five couldn’t help but smile a little.

“...m’fine, just a little lightheaded and my head is killing me.” Diego took one last look at him before shrugging his jacket off. He gently helped Five into wearing the jacket zipping it up to cover the now destroyed top of Five’s pajamas. “That was my favourite...” Five unconsciously murmured, Diego chuckled as Allison is somehow also in front of him.

Allison gently removed some of his hair that was sticking into his forehead due to the sweat. “Don’t worry Five, I promise that we would go out shopping for more okay?”

Five nodded, ready to give up into his drowsiness and it looks like they could clearly see it too. Klaus also suddenly in front of him without him noticing when he did. Now that Five could concentrate it looks like his siblings are all in front of him, Luther is gently waking Vanya up who is struggling to shake the sedation out of her system.

“I am so sorry Fivey...” Klaus said, “I didn’t mean for you all to be dragged into my own personal mess... especially you in this condition”

“...is okay Klaus... I mean I was the reason you were also tortured and kidnapped...”

Klaus smiled at him, it was small and apologetic but it was enough to make Five at ease “But... I was into that shit so really it was no biggie.”

All of them groaned at Klaus’s statement “Klaus don’t remind me!” Ben groaned the loudest which honestly makes them pity Ben even more. Ben effortlessly picked up the dead body of Andrei and tossed it across the room without care just so he could also kneel in front of Five.

“I’m glad you are okay Five...” Ben sincerely said “You had no idea how mad I am when that asshole started molesting you, I don’t want you to go through that ever again” Ben grinned “Especially with my _officially_ favourite brother.”

“Hey! I am not your favourite anymore Benny?” Klaus whined like a child that even Vanya laughed at him.

Ben looked at Klaus with a deadpanned expression “Five could stay up all night long with him reading me physics and history related books, whereas you can’t even finish one page of book with me.”

And Klaus, like the mature person he is just stuck out his tongue at Ben, which Ben maturely returned. It was such a light-hearted scene that all of them even Five cracked a smile despite the extreme exhaustions he was feeling.

But he knows that it would be over the moment his trained ears picked up the sound of several heavy footstep coming over the warehouse, all it took was precious seconds but Five’s attention was immediately on the front door where 3 armed pointed their guns more specifically at Diego who is technically the closes to the door and at this point all of their attention was at the armed guys even Klaus.

And without even thinking about it, with the sudden burst of energy and strength that Five didn’t know he still has, he immediately threw his body into Diego’s very own, protecting him at the sudden rain of bullets.

Five knows what getting shot feels like, after all he was no stranger to it. He could feel 3 bullets embedded into his body before it all went black.

“ ** _Five!”_**

**~o~oOo~o~**

**A/N: I’m so going to enjoy writing this story :D**


	2. Chapter 2

All it took was seconds.

One moment Diego was looking at the clearly exhausted Five, which is given considering that their brother is still suffering from a flu he got three days ago.

Then the next thing Diego knew, his brother has pushed him as the bullets embedded itself into Five’s side instead of his head. Five’s body crumpled and out of pure instinct to protect him further from the rain of bullets, Diego wrapped his arms around Five’s body and rolled them over until he was on top of Five.

“Five!” Diego tried to call him out, he gently nudged Five’s face hoping to get even an inch of reaction from him “Goddamn it Five, don’t do this to us!”

Diego tore his gaze away from his unconscious brother just in time to see Vanya in front of all of them, Diego can’t see it but he is sure that Vanya’s eyes are glowing white. The bullets that are incoming are being turned into dust as Vanya’s power easily disintegrate it mid-air. All the while, Klaus’s hands are glowing soft blue making Ben corporeal again, Eldritch once again in action as the tentacles pierced themselves into the armed guy’s stomach before ripping them all in half effortlessly.

“Oh my god Five!” Allison exclaimed, already removing her blazer “Stop the bleeding!”

Diego immediately took her blazer and pressed down where the bullet has entered Five’s body, hands slightly trembling as Diego can see just how easily the blood has swept through the cloth. They are no stranger to blood, after all ever since he can remember, seeing blood was the only constant thing in their life. But it’s still different if the said blood is coming from one of your siblings.

“We need to get out of here right now! Five needs medical attention.” It was Allison who manage to snap all of them out of their panic haze.

But Diego was not paying full attention to them, the horror he was feeling grows each time more of Five’s blood covers his hand. Suddenly there was a gentle pat on his shoulder.

“Diego give me Five, Ben says there are more of them outside. We need you as an offense, I’ll take care of Five.”

It was Luther, Diego thinks. He and Luther might not have the best relationship out of all of them but Diego knows that their pride and ego as Number 1 and Number 2 doesn’t matter, not when one of them could die.

So Diego looked directly at Luther’s eyes “Please don’t let him die.”

Luther’s lips are set on a tight grim “No one will die Diego, not on our watch.”

When Diego nodded, Luther wasted no time into picking Five up as if he weights nothing. The moment Five is now settled in Luther’s arms, Five groan as his expression twisted into pain. Luther could breathe a little because that is a good sign that Five is still very much alive, but still in danger of blood loss not to mention his body is already strained because of the flu.

As they all walk out of the warehouse and towards the parking lot, like Ben had said several men all armed with guns showed up. They all went down without so much of a fight as Diego and Vanya easily killed them all. The moment they finally arrived at the parking lot, Allison immediately spotted a large van that obviously belongs to the guy they just killed a while ago. It’s a small blessing that it’s large enough to fit all of them comfortably.

Diego wasted no time into breaking one of the windows with his elbow before opening the front door of the van, they all hear him curse.

“Just our shit luck, this are the types of van that I don’t know how to start without the keys.” Diego looked so frustrated at himself, and before he could volunteer to return to search for the keys Klaus threw a set of keys and due to his fast reflexes Diego was able to catch it.

All of them looked questionably at Klaus who just shrugged “I manage to get those keys from the big boss Andrei guy before Benjamin threw his body away.”

In any other situation they would have probably scold Klaus for stealing but right now what he did was pure genius and if this shit is all done, Diego would really treat Klaus for a bunch of waffles for his job well done.

Vanya was the one who opened the Van doors as she wasted no time getting inside followed by Klaus and Ben, they made sure that Luther sat at the front of the back seat of the van so he could easily carry out Five the moment they arrive at the academy. Diego was on the driver’s seat already prepare to drive while Allison is on the passenger seat.

As they start their way back to the academy, every now and then they would hear Five groaning out of pain. Vanya reached out to sweep out some of Five’s bangs out of his sweaty forehead whispering soft assurances to the boy.

After a while, Five manage to open his eyes weakly, all of them minus Diego (who is driving and possible breaking every traffic laws out there) turned to see Five speaking or at least trying to.

“Is....” Five gasped “... Diego okay...”

Diego’s hands gripped the steering wheel tighter upon hearing Five’s question “Yes I am okay you stupid fuck, you shouldn’t have done that Five!” Diego said unable to hide his anger in his tone.

Surprisingly Five managed to scoff “If I didn’t... your dumb ass brain would... be blow out to pieces... can’t have that happening...”

As Five started to slur more and more that makes them worry for him more “Five you save your energy okay? No more talking please.” Vanya softy said, her hands resting now on Five’s forehead

Five is clearly struggling to keep his eyes open, Luther’s body went rigid as he can start to feel more blood oozed out of Five’s wounds. Ben must have sensed it because he was suddenly in front of them “Klaus give me your shirt, Five is starting to lose more blood!”

Klaus went beside Ben as he handed him his shirt, not even bothered by the fact that he was now half-naked “Only for you Fivey that I would sacrifice my most comfy pajama top to get ruined, but you owe me big time okay?” Klaus whispered as he watches Ben crumpled his top before pressing it hard into Five’s bullet wounds earning a rather weak albeit angry groan from their brother.

“10 more minutes before we reach the academy.” Allison informed them, unable to hide the worry in her voice.

Five weakly open his eyes, he turned his attention to Ben who is still pressing against his wounds “Ben....”

Ben smiled at Five in what he hopes is an assurance “Hi Five, you need to stay strong okay? 10 more minutes” When Five nodded Ben could feel himself starting to relax a little “Because trust me, being stuck with Klaus is 10 times worst than living I assure you that. 10/10 would not recommend.”

Five weakly chuckled as Klaus’s soft protests reach his ears “I... don’t want to see you all... die again....” Five said softly but they are able to hear it anyways “You idiots always get killed... without me... don’t want to bury you all again...”

Ben took a deep breath in an effort not to flatter with his job of stop more blood from coming out of Five’s wound. “Well.... we clearly need your help little brother of ours, and honestly as much as I love you all, I don’t need two annoying brothers following me around and annoying the shit out of me.” Klaus said as he gently took a hold of one of Five’s hands. His eyes went wide in pure terror coursing through his body as he could feel the boy’s pulse weaken.

Ben must have seen his expression “He... he is not going to make it...” Ben muttered in pure dread, he pressed _harder_.

Vanya’s cheeks are now slowly being covered with tears as she could see his brother slowly bleeding out “No no no... what the hell do you mean by that?!”

Before any of them could answer her or even calm her down, Diego let out a string of curses as a police car flags them down. “FUCKING SHIT!” Diego shouted as the police car chases them with the siren on. They can’t afford to be stopped now or else Five would seriously die.

Diego didn’t want to stop the car but Allison made him, they can’t attract the police alerting them of their predicament. So Diego stopped the car on the side, punching the steering wheel in frustration before turning behind them to see how Five is holding up.

He is still bleeding and would continue to do so if they didn’t start driving now, they are only 5 minutes away from the academy.

The police officer looked at them and even before he could open his mouth to probably tell them all the traffic laws they violated, Allison looked at the police officer dead in the eye “I heard a rumour that you forgot everything you saw and you let us all go without any problem.”

They didn’t even wait for her powers to fully take place as Diego stepped on the gas, he sigh in relieve as the academy is now in view. Diego parked the car immediately getting out of the car to help Luther with Five as his sisters open the doors for them.

“Take him to the medical wing, I would get Mom!” Ben said as he sprinted up to get their Mom.

As they arrive at the medical wing, Five is now pale as a ghost and already unconscious. Vanya was crying while Allison is trying her best to console her sister as she also try not to think of how dead Five looked like.

Not even a minute after they settled Five down, the door once again busted open with Mom walking towards Five’s unresponsive body. “Ben dear if you please...” Their Mom whispered, Ben nodded grimly at her before turning his attention towards his siblings.

“We should leave so Mom could start treating Five.” 

They wanted to protest but they know that it would only delay the treatment Five should be getting, so with a heavy heart all of them left the room. Diego was the last one to leave, his eyes lingering on his little brother before closing the door softly hoping for the best.

**~o~oOo~o~**

They are all in their living room near the bar, waiting anxiously for any news regarding their brother. Right now it’s nearing 12 am but no one wanted to rest or even sleep, as they are all in a tense situation.

Luther handed Diego a wet towel which made Diego looked up at his brother in silent question.

“For... Five’s blood, on your hands” Luther gently said, Diego thankfully accepted the towel with a tight smile as Luther sat down beside him.

“He will be okay, I mean... that’s Five we are talking about.” Luther started

“The little shit better be okay or else I would repaint his whole room white.” Diego muttered finally being able to remove all the blood covering his hands. He threw the bloodied towel behind him, uncaring where it went.

“We can’t’ lose him... we just got him back. We are still trying to be a family once again...” Vanya whispered, her head hung low with Allison gently rubbing her back comfortingly

“We won’t, Five had survive the apocalypse alone, he would surely survive this one.” Allison said

Klaus looks oddly silent for once, not like they could blame him. After all they are all feeling the very same way he is. As of the moment, they can’t see Ben, but they know that he is with them also hoping for anything that is happening in the medical ward.

An hour has officially passed since they have bought a bleeding Five home, but they still have no news. Every ticking of the clock, the dread that they are feeling only gets worse.

Suddenly, in the tensed silent that hovers around them, they hear a soft footsteps echoing in the hallways. They all immediately stood up from where they are all seated as their Mom comes in view.

Her expression gave the answer they want right away.

Diego could feel his legs buckling and for the first time he reached out to Luther for support, which he immediately got.

“I’m sorry... Five didn’t make it.”

**~o~oOo~o~**

They all hover around Five’s body which was only covered in a white sheet, his face the only thing you can see. Machines are still hooked up in Five’s body, he flatline it’s showing is like mocking them of their failure.

Failure to protect another family member.

He looks like he is just sleeping, but as Klaus reached out to take Five’s hand, he knows he isn’t. Klaus angrily wipes the tears away from his eyes.

Luther is staring intently at Five, dried streak of tears decorating his cheeks. He knows that he failed again as a brother.

Allison and Vanya are sobbing in each other’s arm, unable to look even more so at Five.

Diego can feel his heart break into pieces, fully knowing that Five died because of him. _He was the older brother damn it!_ He was supposed to be the one protecting all of them not the other way around. So why is that Five is dead while he is still alive and breathing?

They just got Five back, how come they all lost him again?

This time permanently.

They weren’t even able to say thank you to Five for everything he has done for all of them. They weren’t still able to tell Five just how much they all mean to him. that even though Five is a little all-knowing shit, Five is their little shit. A part of their family...

A part of this already broken family.

They wouldn’t know how to move forward now without Five beside them, guiding them.

**~o~oOo~o~**

**A/N: I have updated the tags, I think 2 or 3 more chapters and this fic is already good as done.**


	3. Chapter 3

When Five woke up, we was expecting to be in a lot of pain, or that when the moment he would open his eyes he would be staring at the ceiling of the medical ward that they have at home. Probably also seeing one or two of his siblings in the same room when he would have the enough strength to roam his eyes inside the room.

That would be ideal in Five’s opinion.

But the moment he opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed that he is very much alone. And apparently he was also sleeping on the side of a road, leading to god knows where.

And oh, that he somewhat became color blind, because no matter how much he blinks or rub his eyes, the colors are still monochromatic.

“Where the hell am I now?” Five muttered, standing up as he dusted himself of the dirty that he probably got due to sleeping in the grass. Five looked down at himself and he noted that he was still wearing the very same pajamas he was wearing when they got kidnap, and that includes Diego’s jacket.

“Oh good, you are finally awake.” A bored voice tells him “Took you long enough.”

Five turned around to see who was speaking to him, he was mildly surprise to see a little girl in a bike looking at him. “Sorry about that I wasn’t aware that my sleeping duration is being timed, if I had I would have set an alarm for you.” Five said sarcastically, flashing a wide smile at the girl his dimples in full display.

Instead of being irritated, like Five expected, the little girl just scoffed at him “I forgot that out of all of your siblings, you are the smartass one with a mouth that can piss everybody off.”

“Well, I try my best to be the smartass one as you had told me. God knows my other siblings does share only one brain cell, and that brain cell they are sharing is not a very bright one I assure you that.”

The girl actually cracked a smile with his statement “Well, you’ve been here long enough. Time is limited in your circumstances, that’s why I am going to make this as quick as I can.” The little girl told him as she got off her bike to sit down on the grass next to Five. She wordlessly gestured for Five to sit down with her which Five did with great reluctance.

“I want you dead.” The girl said, as if she was just telling Five about the weather.

Five did bark out a laugh when he heard that, “Who doesn’t want me dead?” Five is still snickering “That list of people who wants me dead is longer that my patience.”

The little girl looked at him in amusement in her expression, she waited until Five calmed down a little before continuing “Not in the way you are used to, which quite frankly is concerning.”

Five just shrugged “You just get used to things like that, even though you wished you didn’t.”

The little girl sighed “Well it’s different this time, and for the record, you are very hard to kill.”

With that Five flashes her a grin “Thanks.”

The little girl rolled her eyes “Anyways, I am the creator of all living things. I was the one who gave life to everything on the living world. You people call me God or whatever.”

Five just raised his eyebrows at her but not really doubting her statement which makes the little girl impressed with him. He took this news really well compare to his other brother, that’s for sure.

“I believe you, after all that would explain a lot of question that I have. So is this the afterlife?”

The little girl nodded “Yes, in a way. People who dies in the world of the living wakes up here but are free to wonder around until they find their proper resting place as you would call it.” The little girl waits for Five’s reaction but Five is just staring at the setting sun in the horizon. “Aren’t going to ask me the most basic question that people who are dead asks me every single time? You know the generic ‘does hell exist’?

Five just hummed “You know, being alone for almost 45 years makes you question everything that exist and doesn’t exist. Maybe it’s the fact of isolation that makes you question even the philosophical ones that nobody would ever get to know the real answer, not unless they seek it for the greater good.” The little girl looked at him in intrigued as she gestured Five to continue his ling of thoughts. “I have thought about that, at the very first moment I killed someone. I have reached to a conclusion that hell doesn’t exist but it is merely a concept.”

The little girl smiles at him, clearly impress “Care to share your thoughts?”

“You see, realistically speaking, if you were to consider everything morally wrong as a sin, then everybody that has lived would have a sin to bear in their shoulder up until the day they die. It doesn’t matter how big or small of a sin it is. So the lingering million dollar question remains, what constitutes as a sin big enough to get you a pass to hell? Is it taking the life of someone? If so how about in a context that someone killed another someone in a line of self-defence? Would the person who killed automatically get a pass in hell just because he/she feared for their own life thus protecting it with the only means they know?” Five took a deep breath before continuing “I have killed thousands of people, innocent ones, people who are not. But when I think about it every day, I do this for myself and for my family. I kill to get the life my family deserve. I kill because _I simple had to not because I want to_. Despite my ambiguous intention, does everyone other than myself knows this fact? Of course not. So in a way what I do makes it right in my own justification, but in the eyes of the others what I do is a sure pass in hell.” 

The little girl is clearly staring at him an air of amusement surrounding her, she tore her gaze away from him “I knew I pick the right Hargreeves.” She muttered which made Five looked at her in alarm. “Don’t worry I don’t plan on killing one of your siblings, you are the only one who could do what I want to anyway. Which reminds me, could you please talk to you brother? The weird one who looks like he smokes everything he touches.”

“You mean Klaus? What do you mean about that?”

The little girl gave him a side look “Oh yes that, Klaus. I don’t like him here but somehow he already has been here 2 times already and I am getting tired of kicking him out every single time.”

Five’s eyes went wide, what the little girl is saying is starting to sink in him “You fucking mean that Klaus has already died 2 fucking times and didn’t even bother telling us?!” At this point Five wants nothing but to return to the world of the living just to kill his good for nothing brother. How come Five has to die to learn this?! Does anybody else know other than, you know, fucking God himself?! “I swear to- that fucking- Klaus!”

“You need to calm down, don’t worry Klaus is basically an immortal.”

Five turned to her in disbelief “It doesn’t mean that he should just keep on dying! I didn’t do everything I did just for them to die, not until they have lived a full life!”

The little girl gazed at him with a softness that Five wasn’t used to receiving, which made his anger deflate a little. “You really do everything for them... to your family I mean.”

Five wanted to scoff, or to say something that would debunk her statement but... “Of course I do...” he whispered instead “They are all I have.”

“You humans make things complicated as it is.” The little girl casually says as she stretch her legs “If that’s how you feel, maybe you should start acting like it then. You know, you have lived for so long but... what you did isn’t living, its surviving. Now that you are given another chance to live the life you want, with your siblings, try not to waste it by separating yourself with them. If you want your family to live a long happy life, then live it with them. Start taking down your barriers that you have built for so long, allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to be comfortable with them...” the girl made direct eye contact with him “Let yourself relax, breath the new life you made for your family. You are just a human being Five, you are allowed to feel things that you missed out because of years of isolation.”

Five chuckled, low and breathy “I didn’t think that I would be getting life advices while being dead, it’s kind of ironic don’t you think so?”

The little girl just shrugged “Technically speaking, you are still not yet dead. Like I have told you I want you dead but I could send you back. I just saw what happened to you as an opportunity to meet you here, like I mentioned you are very hard to kill. Makes sense actually considering who your twin brother is.”

Five’s head snapped at her direction “I could ask a million question in your statement alone.” Five could feel himself getting a headache, being dead apparently also does that to you.

The little girl huffed, clearly not expecting this little slip up to happen “Okay fine I will tell you but consider this as a peace offering for killing you.” Five just nodded but didn’t even bother to verbally response “You and the big guy, I think Luther is his name? Yeah you two are twins. I’m surprise your old man didn’t tell you.”

Five just shakes his head “Well it is expected. Me being twins with Luther wouldn’t do us any good or wouldn’t be beneficial in anyway. I honestly think he didn’t tell that on the sole purpose of the ‘balance’ or the dynamic of the family wouldn’t shift into a not so favourable tip on his behalf.”

“I really like you, you are rational and you clearly use that big brain of yours. And I don’t think that’s the case, you are hard to kill not just because you are very skilled and very smart but part of your twin’s power has manifested in you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The little girl just scoffed “Don’t you think it will be interesting if you find that out yourself? I know you like solving complicated things, so consider this as part of a puzzle you need to solve once you get back. You know to keep you occupied.”

Five just hummed in response he wasn’t satisfied with her answer but he likes the challenged so he let this info be storage in his mind to be solved later on, still feeling that the little girl has more to say “So back to the order of business, the true reason why I killed you. How would you oppose to the idea of completing your family?”

Five looked at her questionably “What do you mean by that?”

The little girl smirked at him “Getting Ben back as an alive and breathing human being once again?”

“...what?”

**~o~oOo~o~**

“Diego calm down! Diego!”

Diego didn’t listen to any of his siblings as he rushed out of the medical ward, his hands itching for more knives that are just in his room. A hand stopped him from running up in his room. It was Luther’s

“Calm down?! You are telling me to calm the fucking down!? Five is fucking dead and you expect me not to do something about this shit!?” Diego shouted as he harshly remove Luther’s grasp from his wrist. Diego realized that his other siblings has followed him out of the medical ward.

“What are you planning to do Diego? Go out there and kill whoever did this to Five? Because the last time I check they are already dead Diego!” Luther said, he could understand where Diego is coming from. He is Five’s brother too after all. “I understand how you feel Diego, we all do. Please don’t make this harder than it already is...”

Diego punched the wall beside him, resting his forehead against the wall, quite tears slipping out of his eyes “He is g-gone b-because of me...”

Vanya went towards Diego hugging him “It will never be your fault Diego... no one blames you. What happened today, wasn’t any of our fault.”

“It was my fault...” Klaus silently said, but they were able to hear him anyway. Diego looked at him as Vanya realised Diego in the hug. “If it wasn’t for me... Five would still be resting in his room, if it wa-“

Klaus was cut off when Luther hugged him “It wasn’t any of our fault. It is nobody’s fault Klaus.” Klaus cried as he hugged Luther back. Allison joined the hug, soon followed by Diego and Vanya. The five of them seeking comfort with one another. Words doesn’t need to be spoken as their heart and emotions do all the mourning of their lost but never will be forgotten brother.

“Man this sucks...” Klaus muttered as they are all still hugging one another “Two brothers would be hunting me, just my luck that Five is one of them.”

Suddenly Diego jolt back, causing all of them to look at him “Klaus... can.... can you see Five?”

Klaus’s eyes widen in realization, Klaus tried to use his power, concentrating all his energy to summon Five just like what he did with Ben years ago. Nothing.

“I... I can’t. He won’t respond to my powers.”

The rest of them looked at one another “Do you think...?” Vanya started

“No we shouldn’t get our hopes up like that.” Allison grimly said “We all saw Five just now and.... it’s been 20 minutes already....”

Luther swallowed thickly “Maybe Five just doesn’t want to show up?”

“Even in the afterlife, Five is being a complicated little shit...” Diego said fondly that earned a chuckle out of everyone.

Suddenly they can hear their Mom calling them all out, “You all need to see this, Five’s power is acting up. I don’t know the cause but...”

They didn’t even let her finish as they all sprint towards the medical ward once again.

**~o~oOo~o~**

“You... you mean to tell me that if I time travel back to the year where Ben is still alive and bring his body back here in the future with us, his soul would merge with his body?”

The little girl once again looked impressed at him “Yes, I am aware that you have a briefcase right? It is the perfect opportunity without making you drain your powers too much that you won’t be able to come back in the present.”

Five is already starting to calculate the moment the little girl told him it was possible. He thought of this actually, he knows with the right math and set of equations he could do it. Sure there will be consequences if not done right but... it would be worth it. To once again complete their family, to have Ben alive and well. “Why are you giving me this opportunity, I know you fully know that I would agree to this in a heartbeat.”

“At first, the circumstances with your brother didn’t had an effect in the afterlife. However as he stay in between the land of the living and the land of the dead it is starting to affect the concept of it. Its either you are dead or you are alive, you can’t be in between it disrupts the balance I am trying to keep. I thought that if I made Ben dead, I am afraid that your lunatic brother would kill himself just to bring his spirit back with him. I can’t have that, so I am giving this as a valid choice for you to pick.”

Five laughed, Klaus’s ability to even annoy God herself is beyond amusing and fantastic at the same time. “So you killed me just so I could bring my dead brother back? Why not just use Klaus to say this?”

This time the girl looked at him with clear irritation “What part did you not understand that I don’t like your brother? I prefer talking to someone more rational and doesn’t ask a lot of stupid mind numbing question.” Five chuckled at that “So I am just going to assume that you’ll be able to bring Ben back to life yes? Ah which reminds me, the price of letting me do this if that if you can promise me that I won’t see Klaus for a very long time okay?”

Five smiled at her “That, I can promise you that.”

The little girl reached out her hand as Five shakes it, like a formal deal has been made between the two of them “Well time for you to go, you have been here for only 5 minutes but it’s been much more than that in your time.”

Five stood up as he once again brush off the dust of his pajamas. “How do I get to go back?”

The little girl stood up, getting in her bike “Like how you usually do to get back to your family. Jump number Five, jump.”

The little girl vanishes into thin air. Now alone once again, Five concentrated all his energy into his hands until a blue light shone in the world of monochromatic setting. Not a minute later he could feel as if it will be his biggest and most important jump he would ever do.

Well it been an eventful day but it’s time to go back to his family. Where he truly belongs.

**~o~oOo~o~**

**A/N: Pure family fluff next chapter cause Five deserves a break. In this fic Five would be softer but he is still Five so...**


	4. Chapter 4

The moment they all burst through the medical ward, Ben is already standing there his back turned away from them. They can all clearly see that Five’s hands are glowing blue, just like how it would if Five is using his powers to jump. They formed a small circle around him, Diego, Ben, and Klaus on Five’s right side of the bed while Vanya, Allison and Luther on the left side.

“What is happening Ben?” Klaus asked as he tried to reach out to grab Five’s glowing hands but Ben stopped him automatically, they all looked at Ben who gave them a soft gentle smile.

“You know the usual...” Ben softly said, eyes never leaving Five “Just that Five is coming back to us once again.”

Diego snapped his head towards Five and without a second thought he gently combed his hands into Five’s bangs that are sticking to his cold forehead. “Come on Five, we are all here waiting for you... please Five” Diego whispered with such gentleness that he would probably deny it.

“Come on Five... you can do this...” Ben said “Trust me on this one Five, you won’t like it being stuck with Klaus...”

Then they all heard it, a soft but unsteady beat of the machine that is still hooked up on Five’s body. New waves of tears are unleashed on their eyes as they look intently on Five, not wanting to miss any indication that he was once again alive.

Then it happened, slowly but surely, his chest started to rise up and down again. The glowing in his hands started to fade until it was fully gone, like it never even happened.

Slowly but surely, the moment Five tries to open his eyes they all held their breath. After a couple more minutes of breathtaking waiting, Five finally opened his eyes, blinking tiredly in the process. He turned his head towards his right, his eyes still glazed with pain and drowsiness. A small smile made its way in Five’s lips “Hi Diego...”

Diego would forever deny doing it, but the moment his name escaped Five’s mouth, he cried as he leaned down placing a soft and delicate kiss into Five’s head “Five you little shit, I am so going to kill you.” Diego whispered making sure that Five is the only one who can hear it.

Five wanted to roll his eyes at that, trust his brother to threaten his life the moment _he_ comes back to life. Typical Diego. But as Five can feel Diego’s tears in his head he decided, he wasn’t the worst brother at all, so Five just let Diego cry into him.

“Five, I-I... really thought we lost you...”

Five looked at Luther, staring at him long enough that Diego lifted his head to see why Five is looking intensely at Luther, like the big guy has done something to offend Five in some way. “Shit... yeah god... I see it now shit.” Five said, confusing everyone around him at that remark “God I’ve been blind... should probably get glasses or something...” Five mumbles tiredly

Five felt as if someone gently held his hand, It was Vanya “We... we missed you Five. D-don’t do this to us again okay?”

Five grinned or at least he hoped he looked like it, because god he was tired and he just wanted to sleep, but he knows that his siblings would want a couple more minutes with him. just to make sure they are not dreaming “No promises...” Five said that Vanya and Allison chuckled

Finally Klaus made his presence known “Fivey! Our little baby bro! How dare you make Diego cry like a baby!” Klaus ignored all of Diego’s protest and threats “I am just so happy that you won’t be hunting me like casper the ghost here.” Klaus said as he gestured to Ben who is not looking amused with that statement.

Five looked at Klaus, and Klaus could swear that Five is glaring at him. “Fuck you Klaus.” Five said and if he had the strength, Klaus would also be receiving his middle finger “I am going to kill you the moment I can finally lift a knife. I am going to slit your throat I swear to god.”

Klaus, not surprisingly, just laughed at Five’s bodily threats. “I do not know what I did to deserve your anger little bro, but I will take that any time of the day just... continue being alive okay?” Klaus’s voice got softer in the end.

Five looked at him, a small scoff escaping his lips “Of course I will... you idiots still need me.”

That earned a chuckle from everyone, as they try to wipe the drying tears from their eyes. “What happened to you Five? You were gone for 20 minutes... we really thought we lost you...” Allison softy asked.

“I...” Five started but with everything that happened and with everything he knew it would be a very long story to tell. So instead he turned to Diego, and as expected of his brother he got what he is trying to convey

“How about we let Five rest first and let him recover?” Diego said, looking at all of them “He is still recovering from that flu right? Not to mention the gunshot wounds. I’m sure he is tired right now.”

Five sighed in contentment, feeling his self truly relax he closed his eyes. Five could once again feel him sleep being lulled into sleep. Just before he finally gives up to the final threads of consciousness, he could feel someone placing another tentative kiss into his forehead.

He is sure that it’s Diego, but his brother would probably deny it.

For the first time in his life, Five managed to fall asleep, feeling safe and loved with his family surrounding him.

**~o~oO~o~**

When Five finally fell asleep, they called their back Mom to check him once again. Making them once again wait outside the medical ward anxiously. It took another 20 minutes of waiting, until their Mom happily said that Five would be making a full recovery but he would require a lot of rest because he needs to fully heal, she even said that Five will be forbidden to use his powers for the time being as not to affect his health any further. Mom put him on an oxygen machine, IV drops and a blood bag for the time being, she is also monitoring Five for his fever and for any signs of infection on the wounds.

After much deliberation, they made their Mom tell them what truly happened to Five during the surgery. She said that the bullets manage to crack his ribs causing it to punctured his lungs. And that the bullets didn’t leave his body thus needed to be surgically removed. When she was done with everything, that’s when Five started to deteriorate up until his heart stopped. Of course she started doing CPR for the required time limit, but nothing happened. She waited for a minute before finally telling them.

Now that Five is relatively safe and won’t cause them another heart attack because of another possible scenario of him dying, their Mom told them that they should all rest. She said that Five would possibly wouldn’t wake up for a time being but they still all insist to take turns into looking after Five. Because they all want to make sure that when he wakes up, one of them would be there for him.

Diego didn’t know how it happened but apparently they all allowed him to be the first one to look after Five. So after bidding his siblings good night, he went to get a quick shower and change into a more comfortable clothes in his room while also taking several newly sharpened knives with him.

Because nobody would be fucking with his little brother anymore. Diego would make sure of that.

**~o~oO~o~**

I was already late in the afternoon when Luther decided to go and get Diego to have early lunch with them. When he got to the medical ward, he can see that Diego is still sleeping in the chair that is placed near in Five’s bed.

Luther looked at Five’s appearance, cringing at the sight of the oxygen mask, the IV drops, and the bag of blood. He really looks like a small kid, like their small brother that would need protecting 24/7. But Luther knows better than to treat Five like a child. Even so, Luther wouldn’t let anything else that bad to happen to Five once again.

The feeling of losing another one of his siblings is too much to take. Luther failed to protect Ben, he fucked up with Vanya, but everyday he tries to redeem himself. Because right now, his siblings are the most important thing he has. And hell would freeze over before Luther let anything else happen to all of them. Luther knows that Diego shares the same sentiment with him, they might had a very rocky and unstable relationship in the past due to their rivalry, but every day the two of them makes an effort. To the point that their almost all of their fights are just playful banter over little things that are easily resolved without the involvement of physical harm.

“Diego.” Luther poked him in the shoulder, and almost instantly Diego’s eyes snapped open already grabbing a knife from god knows where.

When Diego becomes more aware in his surrounding, he knows that no they are not being attacked, and two he is holding a knife close to Luther’s throat. To his credit Luther just stared at him, unblinking like he is so used to his action or that he already anticipated this from Diego.

“Do you mind?” Luther said, gesturing at the knife close to his throat

Diego huffed before taking the knife again placing it in the chair. Diego stood up stretched a little before letting his eyes roam over at Five before looking at Luther again. “He didn’t wake up last night.” Diego simply said, and somehow Luther understood

“He would, Mom told us that.” Luther said as they watch Five’s chest rise up and down in a rhythm, the machine beeping steadily.

“Do you remember the time we took him back to my place drunk as hell?”

Luther chuckled at the memory “Still can’t believe that he was able to finish a whole bottle of vodka by himself.”

Diego went towards Five’s bed, placing his hands into the boy’s forehead, frowning when it is still a little hot to be called a normal temperature “I change my mind, he looks like shit when he is asleep. I prefer him all jumping and all snarky.”

Luther went beside Diego, checking Five’s steady pulse in the sleeping boy’s wrist, sighing in relief when he could feel the steady pulse underneath his fingers. “Yeah me too.”

And with that no more words needed to be exchange as the two of them knows what they needed to tell one another. The soft but guarded expression they have plastered in their faces while they look at Five is more than enough to convey the unspoken agreement between the two ‘older’ brothers.

No words needed to be said at all, after all the Hargreeves are still shit at communication, but sometimes words are not needed to be exchanged.

They both know they needed to work harder to protect their siblings. To protect their weird and dysfunctional family. Reginald might have fucked them all up, but he isn’t here now so might as well be a better versions of themselves.

**~o~oO~o~**

“And as I was saying Fivey! Ben was the one who ate my remaining frozen waffles can you believe his audacity?” Klaus complained like he was talking to someone “I made the guys corporeal and this is the thanks I get?”

Ben sighed, feeling tired even though it’s just past lunch. “And I already told you Klaus, I wasn’t the one who ate it! If you use your brain for even one second, I still can’t eat solid foods or even drink anything even though I am corporeal!”

As of the moment, after the family lunch they had, it was Klaus who volunteered next to look after Five who is still unconscious. Klaus is aware of this but he still continues to whine about his missing waffles just to fill in the silence in the medical ward.

With great reluctance, all his siblings went back to doing what they needed to do for the day. Allison went out to meet with her lawyer, Vanya went to her rehearsals even though she is seriously considering staying at home just to make sure that Five is alright. Diego is the hardest one to evict in the medical ward as he wanted to stay with Five to make sure their brother will be alright but alas when they got back to 2019, a month passed by when Diego cut off his hair short and beard announcing to all of them that he would try to give the police academy another go to honour his late ex-girlfriend. From what they could all tell, he is doing great as months went by and if everything went well, he would be a detective in the nearby future. After all when Diego puts his heart and mind into something he wants, he definitely would get it. They are all so proud of him for doing so great. Luther also made a new hobby and that is maintaining the greenhouse they have, even managing to grow vegetables and fruits there that are safe to consume. They are all doing great, Klaus is even proud that ever since they got back he never even touch a single drop of alcohol, not that they have any left. Surprisingly Five was the one who dumped all of the alcohol down the drain, but honestly his caffeine addiction is still concerning them.

“Then whooooo Ben? Who ate my waffles?” Klaus whined as he slumped in the chair that is placed next to Five’s bed

Ben looks like he wants to disappear but can’t because he also wanted to make sure that Five is okay “Who do you think has a sweet tooth in this family, Klaus?”

Klaus hummed “Well Vanya and I but... she swore that it wasn’t her and as her brother I believed her! Do you think she lied? It’s always the quite ones I see.” 

Ben looked up in the ceiling praying for patience “Five was the one who ate it Klaus for god sakes!”

Klaus’s mouth formed a little ‘o’ shape in realization. It came as a surprise to all of them that Five is _very_ fond of sweet things despite liking his coffee black as the color of Klaus’s eyeliner. That fact came to life when one day Diego, Luther and Klaus went home with bags of grocery. Of course Klaus went with them to buy all sorts of junk foods that Diego promised him to not all eat it all at once. It’s sweet how Diego cares for all of them even with the things they eat. So anyway, Klaus was really pumped up with his bags of goodies containing bars of chocolates, candies, and chips. Klaus was willing to share a bags of chips or two with his other siblings of course but not his sweets! So he made all of his siblings swear on their life that they would not touch anything he bought. Allison looked at her like he was crazy, little Vanya nodded because she is a good sister, Luther looked done with him, Diego wanted to puke at the prospect of even eating any of those, and shit little Five just smiled at him all teeth showing with his dimples in place.

Klaus knows that his bags of goodies are safe, or so he thought. The very next day when he just woke up he had the strong urge to eat a bar of chocolates as his breakfast, Ben said it wasn’t healthy but Ben is dead so Klaus couldn’t hear him. He shrieked so loud that his siblings burst through the kitchen all prepared for a fight, but utterly confused when they realized that Klaus was not in danger. Diego and Luther got extremely mad that they were woken up rather rudely by his shrieked, Vanya and Allison looks like they are regretting living in the academy again, Five looks like he hasn’t even been sleeping but was livid for being disturbed with his calculations. Klaus made them confessed or else he would steal all of their clothes and burn them. After a long and quite frankly a tedious debate, Five finally huffed in annoyance and told all of them that if they had a problem with him eating all of Klaus’s sweets then they can all go and suck it.

It wasn’t long after that, that they all realized that Five likes anything sweet to eat but refuse to admit it. So little by little they all pitched in to make Five feel as if it is okay to love things and that if he asked them for it, it would be given to him no judgment involve. It took a while but, once Five felt comfortable enough, he would always ask Diego or Luther to buy him specific and quite expensive brands of chocolates. And like the big brothers that they are, Five would always get a bag full of it even though Five would just ask for a couple of it. Must be the perks of being the youngest, when he wants something he would get it instantly. All of them would never forget the very first time Five ate chocolate in front of them, it was after dinner when suddenly Ben walked into the dining room with a pack of chocolate flavored taffy in his hands. He wordlessly handed it to Five with a small smile, they quietly watched as Five unwrapped it as he popped it in his mouth. The pure display of joy and satisfaction in Five’s expression blew them all away because he really looked like he was his _age_ it’s the very first time they saw their brother like that, as he swallowed the piece of chocolate he looked at Ben with a pure smile directed to him as he mumbled a soft thank you and declared that Ben is his favorite brother, then like the little shit that he is, Five blinked out of the room after all of that.

Of course, as expected chaos ensured the moment that Five was gone. They all surrounded Ben demanding him to tell them where he got the taffy. But Ben is also a little shit so he just gave his siblings a smirked saying “I will be forever his favorite sibling.” before disappearing in thin air. Klaus tried to summon him back but it seems like Ben was dead set on hiding from them. After that they all had a silent competition, that even Allison bought every single chocolates that are available in LA but alas, Ben still wins every single time. Dead and yet still the favorite one, life is just so unfair.

“Oh, then I guess that’s okay. I mean I can’t be mad at little Fivey right now for eating it.” Klaus mumbled “I’ll just make Luther or Diego buy me some more.”

Ben just rolled his eyes, thankful that the topic about waffles are now done. Ben searched for his pocket and got out a piece of the taffy that Five _loves_ so much, Ben placed it at the table. Klaus pouted at him “You are not really going to tell me where you buy that? How can you even buy that without me noticing?”

Ben just laughed “I’ll tell you when I’m dead. And I have my ways Klaus.”

Klaus gasp, expect Ben to make a dead joke but when he does it, it’s considered as somehow offensive “But _you are_ dead!” he squawks.

Ben just ignored him in favor of getting the book that Five has recommend him, a plus thing that he enjoys so much is that being corporeal allows him to interact with any object. Once he got the book, he gently sat down in the foot of Five’s bed opening it and reading the first passage out loud for Five to hear but not loud enough to disturb him in his slumber. This is how Ben and Five bonds after all, they would each read books out loud for one another until they finish it in a day.

Klaus surprisingly just stayed quite as Ben reads to the both of them, his grip on Five’s hands tighten as the hours passed by and before they knew it, it’s already close dinner with their siblings already returning home. This is the kind of peace and quiet that Five so rightfully deserves.

**~o~oO~o~**

The weekdays has gone fast, and now it’s a weekend meaning all of the Hargreeves are free to do what they do in their free time. Today is Vanya’s and Allison’s turn to take care of Five as their brothers went grocery shopping for the essentials and foods that they need.

Five is already looking good; some of the color he lost are slowly coming back to him. The blood bag is now removed, but the IV drops and oxygen mask needs to stay on for another weeks depending on how Five is healing. He is still running a slight fever thus constantly needing to have a cold rug in his forehead and his clothes changed once it is soaked with sweat which Diego and Ben are assigned to do.

Allison wringed the cloth making sure there will be no extra water droplets before placing it gently into Five’s forehead, beside her is Vanya making sure that Five’s IV is still in place. The both of them agreed that they would always be together when looking after Five in his current state.

“I’m so glad that my student for today cancelled due to a family reunion.” Vanya said as both of them finally sat down in the chairs provided to them by their Mom. “I really wanted to stay with Five for today.”

It’s been four whole days since the last time Five woke up, and it’s starting to concern all of them but their Mom assured them that the longer that Five is asleep the better for him to recover. That doesn’t stop them from worrying though.

“Don’t worry, I am sure Five would wake up soon. You know how he is.” Allison assured as she takes Vanya’s hands holding it for comfort, Vanya smiled at her in return, squeezing her hand back gently.

“I just hope it would be soon, I’m not used to him being this... steady or quite for that matter.”

Allison could understand where she is coming from, after all they are all so used to Five always doing something and almost never resting. “Well with this hopefully he can finally catch some sleep that is long overdue.”

Vanya laughed softly at her statement “It’s nice seeing him relax like this, not in the way I would like given the situation but yeah, he needed some sleep.”

Allison fixed the blanket making sure that Five’s feet are covered before sitting back down again beside Vanya. Not a moment after, they all heard the medical ward’s door open, Ben strolled inside before stopping near Five’s bed he surveyed Five first before looking over at his sisters.

“You two might want to go into the kitchen, because right now our brothers are debating what to eat for dinner and as far as I can tell, Diego wants burgers, Klaus wants spicy Indian food, and Luther wants to go back to the moon. And Klaus is winning by whining so loud that Diego might give in and the rest of you will have to eat spicy food for dinner today.”

Allison face palmed while Vanya laughed already amused by the situation in the kitchen, while Ben looks so grateful that he is dead. Allison stood up shaking her head muttering idiots under her breath as Vanya also stood up, as much as he loves Klaus, she didn’t really have a strong stomach for anything spicy. They waved good bye to Ben as they both quietly exited the medical ward.

Ben is now alone with sleeping Five, Ben checked the cloth on Five’s forehead feeling that the coldness is now gone thus needed to be replaced again to help with the fever. Ben gently remove the cloth in Five’s forehead as he dipped it again in the basin of cold water, wringing out the excess before placing it back gently into Five’s forehead. Ben sat down in the available chair already taking out a book he bought with him but a sudden twitch in Five’s hand got his attention immediately.

He could clearly see that Five is trying to open his eyes, Ben took his hands and squeeze it gently as an encouragement for Five to keep on trying to finally open his eyes after days of slumber. It took a while but Ben smiled as Five manage to crack open both of his eyes before shutting them out again.

“Five?” Ben gently called out, and was mildly surprise that Five weakly squeezed his hand back before opening his eyes again. He looks tired yet determined to stay awake.

“Ben...” Five must have noticed the oxygen mask because he tired to remove it with his other free hand but Ben stopped him from doing so.

“We should wait for Mom’s instruction before removing it okay Five?”

Five managed to scoff before lowering his hands once more “Where are the others?” he mumbled, it was hard to hear but Ben managed

“They are all downstairs debating on what to eat for dinner.” Ben heard Five hummed before being quite again. “Is there something on your mind Five? Are you in pain? Do you need anything?”

Five looked at him, and Ben was surprised when Five gently reached out to him cupping his face as if trying to feel if he was alive or not. “Don’t worry Ben, this time after all of this, once I’ve recovered enough, I will save you.” Five said “We will be a complete family again, you and me in the present timeline and we will be living with all of those idiots in this house. God knows when we left; we took all of the brain cells in this family”

Ben smiled sadly “But Five, I am already dead, a long time ago actually but, right now I am here with all of you. That’s more than enough for me...”

Five just shakes his head “Trust me Ben...” he looked directly into Ben’s eyes the look on his eyes are pure determination “I will bring you back, alive and well.” Five smiled at him, dropping his hands back to his side “After all I made a deal with her.”

Something doesn’t sit well with Ben with Five’s statement but he kept his mouth shut for the sake of not stressing Five the moment he just woke up. So like the old times, Ben changed the topic “Do you want me to call them up here so you can see them? We are all very worried about you, we take turns into looking after you while you sleep.”

Five looked at him once again, a small smile graced in his mouth but was being covered by the oxygen but Ben was able to see it anyways “Maybe tomorrow, I still want to rest a few more hours. But don’t worry about me, I can handle myself.”

Ben chuckled “Yes you can handle yourself but, you don’t have to handle yourself alone this time Five.” This time it was Ben’s turn to look at him directly into his eyes “You have us Five, it’s okay to depend on us. After all, we are your family right?”

Five looks like he was ready to argue but... he suddenly has a soft look in his face “Okay. But all of you are idiots, and that includes you Ben.” he said with a huff.

Ben laughed at Five's statement “We are all family Five, if we are idiots, then you are too.”

As Five hears Ben laugh he decided, that maybe being an idiot wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**~o~oO~o~**

**A/N: I am so happy with this chapter, I hope I didn’t make them too out of character especially Diego but honestly Diego is the type of brother who looks like he doesn’t give a shit about you but would die and kill for his siblings.**

**This fic only goes great from this chapter onward, I have so much in stored for this story line and that includes Diego being in the police force, making Ben alive again, and the fact that they are twins. Maybe one more chapter then this fic is done and I’ll make a collection of long one-shots that is slightly connected to this story line.**

**Also a question, do you want Ben as an adult or as a teenager? Just a survey ;D**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: In this fic, Lila doesn’t exist because I don’t like her, and I don’t know how to write her.**

**~o~oOo~o~**

It was fairly early in the morning when Ben had demanded to hold a family meeting in their living room. They were mildly surprise with it because if they held a family meeting it was usually being called upon by Luther or Diego. So here they all are, still in their sleeping clothes all gathered in their living room while Ben is standing in front all of them waiting of him to speak.

As always, Klaus was the one who broke the silence “What’s up Benny boy? Rare for you to call a meeting like this so it must be very important.”

“Did something happen to Five? I know you are the one in charge of him last night, did he get worst?” Diego suddenly said, making all of them look at Ben in alarm.

Ben could quickly see the tension raise in the room “What? No no Five is fine.” With that all of them visibly relax, but Ben just sigh before continuing “But… he did finally wake up yesterday. And I forgot to tell you all.”

As usual Klaus is the first one to whine “That’s so unfair Ben! Why do you get to talk to Five first!”

Ben just crossed his arms “To be fair, he woke up and promptly went back to sleeping, we didn’t even hold a long conversation and I can’t exactly just leave him all alone to get all of you.”

Allison just shakes her head, she could already feel that they would get sidetrack because of the upcoming argument “I went to check on Five this morning before I got here, he still seems to be asleep. And as much as I want to see him awake, it’s good that he is still resting.”

All of them seems to agree with what Allison had just said “So why the meeting Ben?” this time it was Luther who spoke up.

Ben’s expression pinched in what seems to be a worried one, which alarmed all of them “Well… Five acted weird when he woke up…”

Vanya sat straighter with what Ben had just said “Weird? In what sense, I mean this is Five we are talking about, maybe it was the drugs?”

Klaus shakes his head this time “It can’t be, I asked Mom what she’s using for Five and it’s a mild pain killers enough to numb any pain from the gunshot wounds but not enough to make him incoherent when he wakes up.”

“And we all know what happens to Five if he was given any normal drug that is strong, remember that his powers would go all haywire. As far as I can remember, Reginald made Mom make a painkiller specifically designed for Five.” Diego can still remember the very first time where Five got shot, it was a bullet that has embedded into his shoulder that needed to be surgically removed. When Five was put out by a local anesthesia that their Mom would use to all of them when they got hurt, it didn’t take long for Five’s system to burn out the anesthesia out of his system, he woke up in the middle of surgery blinked out of the medical ward, and began bleeding all around the house as he kept on jumping into one location into another.

The scene terrified all of them; they were still all relatively young during that time. They could all remember seeing Five in clear pain even crying a little due to him being incoherent and confused on what is happening to him but they can’t do anything about it because it only toke seconds for Five to jump all around the house up until he passed out of exhaustion as his powers drained him so bad that Five needed to stay in the medical ward for a week. He also could have died because of blood lost. After all of that fiasco, Reginald determined that because of Five’s power, his body reacts very violently to any drugs that his system didn’t register. It took a while but their Mom was able to know what properties of what drugs are allowed to be given to Five. She made a list, and when she did, Diego and Ben took it upon themselves to memorize everything. Not wanting a repeat of the incident. The good side of this is that because of it, Five rarely got sick, he got the strongest immune system out of all of them. The downside is that can’t have anything locally made especially if they are not sure of the properties of the medicine. So everything for Five has to be specifically made, they are all lucky that their Mom is equipped with advance technology and knowledge that she knows how to make medicine that wouldn’t harm Five.

Ben looks like he was having a hard time putting it into words “Well okay here’s what happened. Five woke up asking for all of you but I just told him that you are all bickering downstairs on what to eat. Then suddenly he had… this look on his face. He told me that he would bring me back alive once again because he made a deal with her.”

All of them looked confused, Ben statement is slowly sinking into them. It was silent up until Diego spoke up “Her? Is it the crazy bitch, the handler?” Because if she is, Diego would make sure that she wouldn’t be even in the same vicinity as Five.

Luther looked at him in deep thought “But… isn’t she already dead? I mean the little guy… Herb? They confirmed it right?”

Ben looks lost “I… I don’t know but I am really worried about Five. I don’t want to stress him out because he is still recovering so I didn’t press the issue.”

This time Vanya was the one who spoke up, her voice steady and determined “We will keep an eye out for Five okay? I mean, Five is the most rational and smartest out of all of us so we shouldn’t jump into conclusions about this… deal.”

“Vanya is right, and we should wait until Five opens this topic up. You know how he is, always thinking he could do everything by himself even though he doesn’t need to.” Allison hated that about Five, but at the same time she can see where he is coming from.

Suddenly they can hear their Mom calling them out, telling them that breakfast is ready. All of them looked at one another, seemingly coming to a group decision.

“Yeah okay, we will wait for Five.” Ben finally said as he watches his siblings stand up.

It was Diego who patted Ben in the shoulder on his way out of the living room and into the kitchen “Don’t worry about it too much Ben, I am sure Five would come to us about this.”

Ben smiled as Diego wrapped his arms around his shoulder guiding him out of the living room. Glad to witness a family meeting that ended peacefully.

**~o~oOo~o~**

Five can feel someone rustling around him, so with great effort he opening his eyes, slowly blinking away any drowsiness that clung into his eyes. He gaze up to his Mom who is smiling down at him.

“Hi dear, glad to see that you are awake and doing great. Your brothers and sisters are really worried about you; it’s been a week already.” His Mom gently said, removing the oxygen mask placing it beside the table near Five’s bed.

Five wasn’t surprise that a week has already passed, if he was being honest he was expecting more days has passed by given his circumstances. “What happened to me Mom?”

Grace smiled at him, helping Five into a sitting position, gently fixing the pillows behind the boy so he could lean on them comfortably. Five gave her a thankful smile “Well dear, the bullets have cracked your ribs puncturing your lungs in the process. I had to surgically remove all of the three bullets that are inside of you. Everything was going well during the surgery, as I was about to close up the final entry bullet wound, you went into a shock causing your heart to stop. I tried restarting your heart but it was futile, that’s when I called your siblings. They were devastated Five, to see you dead.”

Five let the information sink into him, now he can understand why they have cried so much when he woke up, well in his defense it wasn’t his fault. “You are still running on slight fever Five, your ribs are still healing so does the wounds, so I suggest that you take it easy okay? No using of your powers in the meantime.” Grace added as she adjusts the IV drop. “Do you want me to call your siblings? They would be delighted to know that you are awake now.”

“Can I also have something to eat? I am quite hungry…” Five said as Grace stood up

“Of course dear after all lunch is near, I’ll also get you a glass of water. Would you like anything sweet to eat?”

Five grinned “Yeah, tell Ben to get me those chocolate taffy.”

His Mom smiled at him knowingly, she leaned down and place a soft kiss at his temple that Five tenses but immediately relaxed at her touch. “Good to see you well dear.” Grace whispered before pulling away from Five.

Five watches as his Mom exit the medical ward, closing the door behind her softly. Five touched the part where she kissed him, it felt nice he thought. His mind when back to where Diego also did the very same thing to him, although he is sure his brother would deny it. Five knows that he isn’t used to any physical affection, after all when people touch him it’s always with the intention to hurt him. The handler like to touch him, in his arm, his face very particularly, he always hated her touches. They felt cold and it makes his skin crawl in a very bad way. But as he remembers how his family touch his hands, how Diego and his Mom kissed him in his head, how Luther would pat him in the shoulder gently, how Allison and Vanya would brush strands of hair away from his forehead, and how Klaus would hug him suddenly, they felt warm they felt right. Five could almost cry at those, that’s when he realized just how much he missed them, just how much the apocalypse the commission fucked him up. As he remembers his conversation with God herself, maybe he could really afford to truly live now, to feel things he wasn’t allowed to feel when he is just a killer. It would take a long time but Five is sure that with the help of his siblings, he would eventually be okay.

He just needed to depend on them more, after all it wasn’t Five vs the world now, this time it was his family that he is a part of vs the world. Five smiled at that thought.

He wouldn’t admit it out loud but, he misses his family. Even though they are just a bunch of bumbling idiots.

**~o~oOo~o~**

They all sat in the kitchen waiting for their Mom to return from the medical ward, they wanted to come with her to check on Five but she insisted that they should just enjoy their lunch first before check on Five.

She returned to the kitchen, preparing a bowl and spoon. They watch her quietly as she scoops out a generous amount of soup into the bowl before putting 2 pieces of bread into the bowl. “Ben dear, Five specifically requested for the chocolate taffy you’ve been giving him.”

Their mouth went wide in realization that Five is now awake, and without further ado, Ben suddenly spoke up “Last to get there is the least favorite sibling.” And with that Ben disappeared from their sight.

“Ben you asshole, I am so going to send you back to the world of the dead!” Klaus loudly called out after their deceased brother.

The chairs scrapped loudly against the floor as they all abruptly stood up. Racing out of the kitchen, Grace couldn’t help but smile at the childish display her children are showing, she pretended not to see that Diego tripped Luther purposely.

She is glad that her all her children are happy and well. After all as their Mom, that’s all she ever wanted.

**~o~oOo~o~**

Five jolted in surprise when Ben is suddenly corporeal beside him, “You again Ben? I am starting to think that you are my only sibling left in this house.” Five said teasingly

“Well Mom said that you specifically asked for me because of the taffy” Ben smiled before taking a couple of the taffy out of his pocket, he can see the glint of happiness in Five’s eyes the moment it landed on the chocolates “Or am I mistaken? Well I guess I’ll just have to throw all of these out?”

Five immediately gave him a glare that made Ben laughed; Five snatched the chocolates out of his hand “Do that and I will kill you.” Five said with no real heat behind his words. Ben didn’t even stop Five as he unwrapped one before popping it in his mouth as he chew on it he looked at Ben “You really are my favorite.”

Ben just grinned, but their moment ended when the medical ward’s door opened rather violently, Five peeked out and saw that all of his siblings are running towards his bed, with Diego in the lead followed by Allison, Vanya, Klaus, and finally Luther.

Diego looked at Five who is still chewing at looked down at his hands where there is a piece of wrapper, “Five you shit spit that out! You need to eat real food first before any chocolate!”

And as usual, Five being the little shit that he is, swallowed it before giving Diego a smile showing all of his teeth. “What are you going to do Diego? Make me puke it out?” Five challenged

“You little fu-“

Allison smack Diego in the head “Stop harassing Five, he just woke up!” Diego gave Allison a glare as he rub the back of his head. “But he is right Five, you need to eat first.”

Five sighed and rolled he rolled his eyes, god his siblings are too much “It’s just one piece and Ben didn’t stop me!” Five said looking at Ben as if saying that it’s his fault somehow “This is one reason why I like Ben better than all of you.” Five mumbled but they were able to hear it anyway.

“Okay how about this, you need to eat first then you can have as much as chocolates that you want. Allison and I are even going out to shop for more chocolates that you loved, including the one you liked you know the ones with caramel in it?” Vanya proposed, Five directed her a smile

“You are my favorite sister.” Five said that made Vanya beamed in pure delight.

“Hey and I am not? I always bring you expensive chocolates from LA and somehow I am in the last?”

Five just shrugged “You are in the second place, you should be happy with your standing given that you are in the third.” Allison fumed at his words but Five just enjoyed her reaction knowing that she can’t do anything to him. Not that she would, after all not that he enjoys it but playing the ‘I am the youngest’ card always gets him out of trouble.

“Fiveyyyy! I have missed you so much!” Klaus said as he wrapped his arms around Five hugging him but still being mindful of his injuries and his IV drop. Five, this time, didn’t tensed up like Klaus was expecting him to, he was surprise instead that Five returned the hug. When they parted from the hug, Klaus flicked Five’s forehead making him welp in surprise rather than in pain. “That’s for eating my frozen waffle you sneaky shit!”

Suddenly Luther made his presence know, they all looked at him as he placed the water in the table beside Five’s bed, he is still holding the bowl of soup that their Mom handed to him before leaving all of them in the medical ward. Before offering it to Five carefully. Five managed to balance the soup in his lap thankful that it wasn’t too hot. He looked up to his brother, his twin brother to be exact. Five wonders how Luther would take the news “Thank you Luther.”

Luther for this part, looked surprise with the gratitude “Um yeah, no problem. Do… do you need help eating?”

Five smiled his dimples in display “Try feeding me and I will scoop your eyes out with this spoon and feed it to the birds.”

The all laughed at the expression that Luther has in his face. Not long, Luther also joined them, while Five just rolled his eyes smiling as he proceeded to eat his soup. He watch in contentment and bliss as his siblings tease Luther about what just happened.

Bunch of idiots, all of them, Five thought.

**~o~oOo~o~**

After eating and a quick check up from their Mom, Five decided to tell them everything he knew. So he made his sibling sit comfortably as he tries to gather his thoughts as to not overload them with the information he is about to tell them.

Five took a deep breath “So as you all know, I died. There is no need to sugarcoat what happened to me because that is the truth.”

They all winced at that, looking down with a guilty expression on their faces which made Five sighed “It wasn’t any of your fault.”

Diego clenched his fist “Yes it was, and it was my fault.” Five looked at his brother before placing his hand on top of Diego’s closed fist which made Diego looked up to Five before relaxing ever so slightly.

“It was not, I wasn’t meant to die in the first place.”

“What is that suppose to mean Fivey?” Klaus asked unable to conceal the curiosity out of his tone

Diego opened his palm, holding Five’s hand with his own. The others looked at it briefly, smiling amongst themselves but not commenting at it. “So when I woke up, I met God. She was the one who wanted me dead.”

All of them looked shocked at what he just said, so Five waited until they could fully process what he just told them. And ironically, in Five’s opinion, it was Klaus who first spoke up.

“You met her too?” he asked surprised at this fact

Five grinned, checkmate Klaus. The rest of their siblings whipped their attention all towards Klaus who suddenly realized what he just said.

“What the fuck Klaus?” Diego growled

Klaus held his arms up in a surrender “H-hey… aren’t we talking about our little baby bro here? Why the sudden attention to me?”

Ben squinted his eyes at him, knowing full well what Five is referring to. So he didn’t back Klaus up, Ben waited for him to finally come clean to his family.

Five scoffed “Well you see, while I was having a rather informative conversation with God herself, she made it quite clear that our brother Klaus here…” Five looked at him with a glare “Has died 2 times already, and that he is apparently an immortal because he annoyed God so much she doesn’t want him there. Imagine my shock that I needed to die first before learning that.”

Klaus just laughed nervously as he could already feel their glare at him. “Where you even going to tell us?” Allison asked his face crunch up in disbelief expression.

“Well…”

“You wouldn’t…” Vanya was the one who spoke up, her voice soft

“In my defense, nobody would have believed it.”

With that statement, all of them looked guilty, the anger they are feeling suddenly deflating. Even Diego’s expression soften.

“I am so sorry Klaus…”

Klaus looked at Luther “It’s no biggie big guy, in the end it doesn’t even matter okay?” Klaus said reaching out to pat Luther in the arms.

“It matters Klaus.” Five harshly said “All of you matters okay? We shouldn’t make light of this situation, so here is what’s going to happen. None of you are allowed to die, not until I say so. Especially you Klaus, God made me promise to keep you here and I am so going to make sure it happens.”

Klaus cooed at Five, and without any second thought he hugged him and Five huffed in irritation but nevertheless returned the hug “I knew you love me Fivey! I am so going to be your favorite brother!”

“No, still Ben.” Five easily said

Klaus pouted as Ben laughed, Ben reached out to ruffle Five’s hair.

“From now on we would do better, as a family.” Diego spoke up “No more dying.”

They all grinned in agreement as Five scoff “As if I would let that happen.” Five muttered

“Wait so God killed you just to tell you that Klaus is an immortal is that it?” Vanya suddenly asked, wanting to know more.

Five looked at her before shaking his head, indicating that he still wasn’t done talking. “She killed me because she saw the opportunity to talk to me, she doesn’t want to use Klaus so she took the matters into her own hands.”

Before Five can continue, he gestured at Diego to hand him his water, which Diego immediately got him. As he gulped down a large amount of water, Five looked at them “She gave me a choice, to bring Ben back from the dead. By time travelling back to the past using the briefcase that we still have.”

None of them could talk as they stared at Five with their mouths gaped open in disbelief. “Holy shit…” Luther muttered

“Yeah that was my first reaction too, apparently Ben is disrupting the balance between the land of the living and the land of the dead. Her first choice is to make Ben stay in the land of the dead, meaning Klaus won’t be able to conjure him anymore. But she is worried that Klaus would just kill himself just to annoy her into giving Ben back to us…”

Despite the revelation, they all chuckled at that “Klaus you ability to annoy even God herself is outstanding.” Diego chuckled

“Well, I try.” Klaus grinned

Five looked at all of them, sighing in relief that they are all taking this well. “When I get out of here, I would start with the proper calculations to determine the best time to bring Ben back again.”

Suddenly they all tensed up, “Are… are you sure it would work Five?” Vanya asked

Five even looked unsure “I admit there will be grave consequences if this goes wrong, I need to make sure that everything will be precise and right. This is the one thing I can’t screw up.”

Ben finally decided to speak up, after all this is about him “Five I don’t want you to endanger yourself just to save me, what if you get stuck in the past? I would rather be dead than have you not come back to us…”

Five looked irritated all of the sudden “No Ben, what I want is to complete this goddamn family. And now that I have been given a choice to do it, I would sure as hell take it.”

“But Five…” Ben looked very conflicted.

Suddenly Five looked at him so intensely that all of protest that Ben had suddenly died in his lips “I need you to trust me in this one…” Five tore his gaze away from him as he looked at of his siblings “I need you all to trust me on this one. I… I admit that the prospect of getting stuck in the past terrifies me, but I am willing to gamble this. I just need you all to trust me.”

Diego placed his hand into Five’s head making Five look at him “We trust you Five… it’s just that we are scared too, I mean we just got you back. You can’t blame us if we get worried for you, especially given your history of time travelling.”

Five bit his lips, “We know that you can handle yourself Five, after all you basically took care of yourself for 45 years. But we are here now, at least consider how we feel.” This time Luther is the one making sense.

Five looked at Vanya and Allison before sighing in defeat “How about this instead, as a compromise. I would update you with everything that will involve this plan, I would not attempt it not until I am 100% at my peak condition and health.”

Vanya smiled at him “Okay, that… that is reasonable Five.”

Allison looked relieved at that “But you also have to consider us worrying about your well-being during that time, we all know how you can ignore your basic needs if you get too absorbed with your calculations and equations.”

“Can’t you bring one of us with you?”

Five shakes his head “I can’t Klaus, if I bring anyone of you the briefcase might not be able to handle it, given that we already used it once.”

“We… we would help with anything that we can okay Five? Just ask any of us.” Ben said, as the others nodded in agreement.

Five smiled “Yes that way you can all be useful to be just this once.”

“You really are a little shit aren’t you?” Diego said as he ruffled Five’s hair earning him a glare, which Diego promptly ignored.

“Well now that everything is settled, maybe we shouldn’t push this more. I mean you just woke up Five, you still need to rest.” Luther said gathering the attention of all of them.

Five grinned at him “But Luther…” his grinned widen “I am still not yet done actually.”

Luther sighed “There is more? What more could top the revelation that Ben could be resurrected from the dead?”

Five laughed suddenly making them jolt in surprise but was immediately replaced with worry as Five’s face scrunch up in pain, suddenly holding his sides. Almost immediately Diego rolled up Five’s t-shirt, sighing in relief when he could clearly see that it didn’t open up the stitches “Five you gotta relax buddy…” Diego started to gently rub Five’s back soothingly as Five takes deep steady breath to ease the pain he suddenly felt.

Once he deemed the pain has considerably lessen Five took a finally deep breath before leaning against the pillows once again, shooting Diego a thankful look “God told me a very interesting fact that our Dad left us all in the dark.”

“Ohhhh this better be good.” Klaus said gleefully leaning as his face shows his excitement

“Do we even want to know?” Allison said, knowing that whatever it is, it can’t be good.

Five just ignored her in favor of just getting this over with so he can rest “As you are all aware, we are adopted by Dad from different parts of the country from different birth mothers.” Five started, ignoring the odd looks his siblings are giving him, of course they already know this fact. Five grinned despite already feeling the exhaustion, he should have waited for another day or two before having this family meeting. “Apparently, Dad got his hands on one set of twins. Making it that two of us are technically biological siblings.”

And shit, Five would have laughed again at their reaction, but he hold it out in favor of not irritating his stitches again. He counted up to five as his siblings all burst into a chorus of questions.

“Holy shit really?”

“Of course Reginald would hide that fact.”

“Jesus Christ can this family meeting get any weirder?”

“Wait seriously?”

“Imagine the awkwardness if it turns out to be Luther and Allison.”

The last remark came from Klaus which earned him a quite satisfying smack in the head courtesy of Allison herself. Luther looks so shocked that he didn’t even burst into question like his other siblings did.

“Oh man, I hope it’s me and Benny boy. Imagine it, that all this time my twin brother is haunting me.” Klaus said totally ignoring the fact that they literally are both from different races.

“Klaus, I am Asian and you are clearly an American, we can’t be twins.” At least Ben had a functional working brain, such a pity that he can’t share it to Klaus

“Small details my twin brother, I am calling dibs that Ben is my biological brother.”

Ben face palmed “That’s not how it works…!”

“How about we let Five talk?” Vanya said as she tried to calm Klaus down.

Five pretended to close his eyes as he spoke up “I am feeling quite tired, I am going to rest now. Good night everyone.” And Five would have never expected it but it was Diego who tapped his face to ‘wake’ him up. Five fixed him a glare, traitor he mouthed in which Diego just ignored it.

“Don’t you dare sleep now Five, you can’t just drop a bomb like that and expect us to wait for another hour, you better tell us right now or I swear to god I will throw every chocolate I find in this house.” Allison threatened trying to make herself authoritative.

“And you wonder why you are my 2nd favorite sister…” Five muttered, and it looks like Allison heard him but decided to let the remark slide. “Fine I will tell you all but after that you don’t get to bother me while I rest.”

All of them hummed in agreement, finally settling down as they waited for him to speak. Five looked at Luther, making sure that they are making a direct eye contact with one another “Hi there twin brother.”

Suddenly, all of them looked between Five then at Luther. Trying to see any resemblance, it was Klaus who first spoke up “Oh yeahhh, yeaaah I see it now. The jaw line and the contour of both of your eyes are very similar to one another.”

“How come we are just seeing this just now?” Ben muttered in amazement unable to tear his gaze away from Luther’s face.

Even Vanya seems speechless at that, Allison on the other hand still seems to be processing the information.

“Now that I have cleared that up, can I rest now?” Five didn’t even bother to wait for their reply as he tried to make himself comfortable in the bed. As Five close his eyes, he could feel Diego covering his body with the soft blanket, tucking it under his chin. Five hummed in contentment, already starting to feel himself relax.

Or as relaxed as he could get, not even a minute he closed his eyes he could already hear Klaus starting to tease Luther about this newly founded information, and Five was surprised that even Vanya and Allison joined with the teasing. Ben and Diego? Five was sure that it was Ben who is holding his hand, gently stroking his knuckled in a circular motion, Five isn’t quite sure but he could hear Ben muttering about how lucky he was that he isn’t Klaus’s twin. While Diego is slowly stroking his head that makes him even more tempted to be lulled into sleep, who knew that despite his rough appearance Diego can be this soft and protective of him? Five would surely use that to his advantage one of these days.

Despite Diego’s calming motion, it didn’t escape Five’s ear the remark that Diego made that made him smile “No wonder Luther is this stupid, Five basically took all the brain cell with him.” Which earned a chorus of laughter totally ignoring Luther’s protest which died instantly as Five could also clearly hear him laugh together with their siblings.

They are being so noisy which quite frankly would annoy Five in any other day but, as he could still feel Ben and Diego’s touch, he thought to himself that it was a small price to pay.

The last thing he felt before letting go of the last threads of consciousness is another small but heart-warming kiss in his forehead that made him feel safe and loved, and this time he was sure it was Diego again.

Five really loved his family, even though they are a bunch of idiots, he wouldn’t trade them for the world.

**~o~oOo~o~**

**A/N: Finally done! I am so happy how this turned out! This storyline is still not quite done as I have opened up a lot more possibilities for long one-shots that are related to this. I will be writing another one that’s for sure. And as you can all tell, I am weak for soft and protective Diego towards all of his siblings especially Five and I really enjoy writing Ben the way I did, I hope I did their characters enough justice. Thank you all for you reviews and kudos, and I am open for any request <3 **


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